Urinary incontinence is a widespread problem among females. It is estimated that up to 50% of women occasionally leak urine involuntarily, and that approximately 25% of women will seek medical advice at some point in order to deal with the problem. Stress incontinence, the most common type of urinary incontinence, refers to the involuntary loss of urine resulting from abdominal pressure rise occurring during exercise, coughing, sneezing, laughing, etc. While many different factors may contribute to the development of stress incontinence, it is most prevalent among women ages 35-65 and those who have had multiple vaginal deliveries. Stress incontinence is both aggravating and unpleasant for women, and it can also be embarrassing. Many women wear sanitary pads or diapers in order to deal with incontinence, though this is not a real solution to the problem and it can be very inconvenient and unreliable. Surgical treatment may involve securing the paraurethal tissues to the periosteum of the pubic bone or the rectus facia in order to elevate the bladder neck above the pelvic floor and thereby distribute pressure equally to the bladder, the bladder neck, and the mid-urethra. Recently, a procedure known as “TVT” (“Tension Free Vaginal Tape”) was developed, in which a mesh tape is implanted underneath the mid-urethra, creating a hammock on which the urethra may kink during a rise in intra-abdominal pressure. However, surgery is only suitable for severe cases, and the majority of women experiencing incontinence do not need, and certainly would rather avoid, surgical solutions.
One modality of non-surgical treatment involves the use of devices that are inserted into the vagina, either by a medical practitioner or by the woman herself. A variety of such devices are known in the art. For example, refer to U.S. Publication No. 2002/0183711 to Moser, entitled, “Urinary Incontinence Device”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,340 to Jensen, et al., entitled, “Device for prevention of involuntary urination”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,831 to Zunker, et al., entitled, “Resilient incontinence insert and a method of making the same”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,542 to James, entitled, “Female incontinence control device”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,206 to Biswas, entitled, “Intra-vaginal device”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,640 to Kresch, entitled “Method for Treating Female Incontinence”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,899 to Martelly, et al., entitled, “Pessary”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,618,256 to Reimer, entitled, “Device for Arrangement in the Vagina for Prevention of Involuntary Urination with Females and an Applicator for use in Insertion of the Device”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,226 to Juma, entitled, “Female Anti-Incontinence Device”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,836 to Biswas, entitled, “Urinary Incontinence Device”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,894 to Enhorning, entitled, “Female Incontinence Device”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,986 to Biswas, entitled, “Urinary Incontinence Device”, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.